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Curry & Thompson

OAKLAND -- When the Warriors broke up the Stephen Curry-Monta Ellis backcourt, it came after years of debate, discussion and a lot of disagreement.
In short, there were legitimate questions about their compatibility. And last March the Warriors came to the conclusion that a Curry-Ellis backcourt wouldn’t work and traded Ellis to Milwaukee in a deal for Andrew Bogut.

The Warriors did that for two reasons: They needed a center and they believed Klay Thompson could be the shooting guard of the future and the long-term backcourt partner of Curry.

So, here’s the question, and maybe you’ll think it’s premature. Are Curry and Thompson really compatible? Do they complement each other, do they make each other better and are they more of a solution going forward than problem?

Though Curry and Thompson have played just eight games together, some troubling signs are emerging. It’s not just that both players are off to bad starts. It’s that a closer look at their games raises some questions. Here are a few of them:

*** Thompson is a terrific shooter, particularly from 3-point range. It’s the strength of his game, and he’s a threat from anywhere on the perimeter.

But is that the kind of two guard you want playing with Curry, who isn’t a penetrator, isn’t really a slasher and doesn’t kick-out from the lane very often?

It’s fair to wonder whether Thompson can thrive in such a situation – with that kind of point guard.

*** Warriors coach Mark Jackson can talk all he wants about the defense of Curry and Thompson, and how both have improved. But they’re still not a good defensive backcourt.

Curry doesn’t have the lateral quickness of some point guards and doesn’t have the strength of others. Thompson certainly has size for his position, but he’s also got to get tougher and stronger.

Can both grow in this area? Of course they can. But out-defending another team’s backcourt on a consistent basis doesn’t seem like it’s in the cards for them.

*** Neither player is an above-average athlete for his position, and this manifests itself in a lack of easy buckets. There were certainly aspects of Ellis’ game to criticize, but the ability to get to the rim certainly wasn’t one of them.

In the open court, Ellis was fantastic and even in the halfcourt he would find ways to get into the lane and finish. He had the ability to get there with quickness, by contorting and sometimes simply by elevating.

*** You could make the case that Curry and Thompson have games that are too similar. The No. 1 strength of each player is outside shooting. That’s good, on the one hand, but it also means that there may be nights when neither shoots the ball particularly well.

That seems to be what’s happening now, with Curry shooting 37 percent from the field and Thompson 36 percent. Having a perimeter-shooting backcourt also means that you’re not going to get to the foul line consistently, let alone in abundance.

In some ways, you have two players who excel at coming off screens, but yet neither is overly adept at finding each other coming off screens.

There has been a lot of debate as to whether Curry is a point guard or not and whether that’s his best position. That’s irrelevant, though, because the Warriors have made it clear they believe he is. That $44 million contract will tell you that.

The real question moving forward is whether the Curry-Thompson backcourt can thrive together or whether it might have some of the same issues that a Curry-Ellis backcourt had.

I think Steinmetz makes allot of good points. Thompson would do better with a Point Guard who can penetrate, and Curry would do better with a Shooting Guard that can penetrate. I know it's premature but does trading Klay Thompson for someone like DeMar Derozan make this team better? What about Curry for Westbrook? It probably wont happen because Thompson's still on his rookie contract, and Curry just signed his new contract but it's something to watch going forward in my opinion.

Last edited by Monta is beast; 11-15-2012 at 06:24 PM.

Originally Posted by Monta is beast

If Currys defense is so bad, why do the warriors have the third best defensive team in the league? Why do opposing point guards have a less than average per of 14.9 when Curry is in the game? Why does curry LEAD the nba with a plus minus of +416.

Originally Posted by alexander_37

You can rattle off all of the stats you want with no context whatsoever. You still said Curry is the 4th best player in the league.

They will be fine. Curry shooting only 20 points higher for his FG percentage than his 3 point percentage is not sustainable and Klay shooting 30 percent is not either.

But is that a result of the playing together. Was Curry's field goal percentage so high with Ellis because he would get him open shots of off drives? And the same for Thompson?

Originally Posted by Monta is beast

If Currys defense is so bad, why do the warriors have the third best defensive team in the league? Why do opposing point guards have a less than average per of 14.9 when Curry is in the game? Why does curry LEAD the nba with a plus minus of +416.

Originally Posted by alexander_37

You can rattle off all of the stats you want with no context whatsoever. You still said Curry is the 4th best player in the league.

Mibs, ask yourself, do you think both will shoot under 45 percent this year?

I think it's a strong possibility. Curry is not getting good looks at the basket, neither is Thompson. Is that a result of no one being able to drive and dish? Neither of them can do that at this point.

Originally Posted by Monta is beast

If Currys defense is so bad, why do the warriors have the third best defensive team in the league? Why do opposing point guards have a less than average per of 14.9 when Curry is in the game? Why does curry LEAD the nba with a plus minus of +416.

Originally Posted by alexander_37

You can rattle off all of the stats you want with no context whatsoever. You still said Curry is the 4th best player in the league.

Klay's eFG% last year was .520. This year it is .320. Do you think going from Jenkins to Curry would really cause that? I sure as hell don't. It was either a fluke year or he is struggling right now. I think he is struggling right now.

Curry's career eFG% is .583. Right now it is .420. Considering how bad both of them have been we are lucky to be 4-4. And it gives me more confident.

David Lee is also down to .400 in his eFG%, his career is .500 eFG%. I figured I'd throw him in there.

Klay's eFG% last year was .520. This year it is .320. Do you think going from Jenkins to Curry would really cause that? I sure as hell don't. It was either a fluke year or he is struggling right now. I think he is struggling right now.

Curry's career eFG% is .583. Right now it is .420. Considering how bad both of them have been we are lucky to be 4-4. And it gives me more confident.

David Lee is also down to .400 in his eFG%, his career is .500 eFG%. I figured I'd throw him in there.

There is a huge difference between Curry & Jenkins. Jenkins drove the ball often, Curry rarely drives the ball. I'm not saying last year was a fluke year for Thompson, I'm saying it's possible that Curry's game & Thompson's game don't compliment each other the way we thought they would. Another point to take from this is that the offense should be run inside-out when Bogut comes back.

Originally Posted by Monta is beast

If Currys defense is so bad, why do the warriors have the third best defensive team in the league? Why do opposing point guards have a less than average per of 14.9 when Curry is in the game? Why does curry LEAD the nba with a plus minus of +416.

Originally Posted by alexander_37

You can rattle off all of the stats you want with no context whatsoever. You still said Curry is the 4th best player in the league.

I predict continuous FG% struggles from both Curry and Thompson until we start to attack the basket with more regularity. That's just the way it is right now. My recommendation to MJ would be to use Jack in this role more until we acquire someone better that can shoulder the load. I sure as heck don't want Curry doing it because he'll end up landing on someone's foot and re-sprain his ankle then miss 40 games so I anticipate a trade of some sort b4 the deadline that includes Biedrins/Jefferson to acquire another bad contract and a better penetrator of some sort and fillers to make the numbers work.

I don't know much about advanced statistics for the NBA but that seems like an extremely small sample size.

"It's already over. All hopes aside and being only realistic. The Giants won't make the post season with the Dodgers and the Rockies in the same division."
-rarryronds (06/03/2010 - on the Giants 2010 season)

We could have some pretty large cap space available after next season as well with a good number of players' contracts expiring soon, so we might even be able to sign someone straight-up that can fill the drive'n'dish role of the team. I just hope whatever they do, it will be smart and manageable, which I think it will be.

Bogut becomes expiring after this season - $14M
Biedrins becomes expiring after this season (early termination option) - $9M
Jefferson becomes expiring after this season (player option) - $11M
Jack expires this season - $5.4M
Rush becomes expiring after this season (player option) - $4M
Landry becomes expiring after this season (player option) - $4M
Jenkins expires this season (although he has a qualifying offer, so that could change) - $1M

Based on Hoopsworld's information we could potentially have around $48.5M freed up in the next two years (of course we have to take into consideration those players that re-sign). I know a few will like Rush (most likely after his major knee injury), maybe Jack and Landry so there could be some variance of the available cap space, but it still looks like our FO will finally have a little flexibility.

We could have some pretty large cap space available after next season as well with a good number of players' contracts expiring soon, so we might even be able to sign someone straight-up that can fill the drive'n'dish role of the team.

Bogut becomes expiring after this season - $14M
Biedrins becomes expiring after this season (early termination option) - $9M
Jefferson becomes expiring after this season (player option) - $11M
Jack expires this season - $5.4M
Rush becomes expiring after this season (player option) - $4M
Landry becomes expiring after this season (player option) - $4M
Jenkins expires this season (although he has a qualifying offer, so that could change) - $1M

Based on Hoopsworld's information we could potentially have
around $48.5M freed up in the next two years (based on what everyone elects to do, of course). I know a few will re-sign like Rush, maybe Jack and Landry so there could be some variance of the cap space, but it still looks pretty good even after whatever happens until then.